WRID members get update through Corps Col.

Thursday

Mar 7, 2013 at 3:11 PMMar 7, 2013 at 3:14 PM

$5.6 million made available for 2013 construction for Grand Prairie Project

Leigh Kreimeier, lkreimeier@stuttgartdailyleader.com

“We will continue to get funding hopefully,” Col. Vernie L. Reichling Jr., commander of the Army Corps of Engineers’ Memphis division, said of the White River Irrigation District Grand Prairie Project. “We will award the contract in May and that is good news — great news.”

But that is old business. That excitement was celebrated in November. WRID is still looking toward the future and to eventually hear the words “complete funding.”

The contract that Reichling discussed will be for the second segment of pipes. This is thanks to $5.6 million that was made available for 2013 construction.

The first contract for 7,200 feet of pipe was completed in 2012. The new funding requires a local match, which was obtained through a loan from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission and the state bond program.

"This additional funding will allow us to complete the remainder of the pipeline that (will deliver) water from the pump station on the White River at DeValls Bluff to the canal system that starts at the intersection of Webb Lake Road and Firetower Road northwest of DeValls Bluff,” Dennis Carman, director and chief engineer of WRID, explained.

“With this new funding, we will be able to continue construction. We will also be searching for additional funding to complete the pump station which is our next priority,” he said.

The funding is an important piece of the puzzle that will lead to the completion of a water delivery system that hopes to provide a dependable supply of irrigation water to farms in the Grand Prairie region.

Reichling was on hand at the District’s office Tuesday to give an update on the outlook of the project.

“We will have to see how the 2014 budget turns out,” he said.

The sequestration leaves that hanging in the balance.

“I don't see any impact on this,” Reichling said about the possible federal cuts trickling down to the Grand Prairie Project. “I don't think it will be so drastic that we will have to pull out of this project.”

To put it simply, sequestration is automatic, across-the-board spending cuts in the face of annual budget deficits. The only way this will effect the WRID is if the construction team through the Army Corps of Engineers is required to take layoffs.

“There are a lot more questions than I know answers right now,” Reichling explained of mandatory furloughs. “If (our) exception is not approved then you might see that — you can't make up that in overtime.”But those answers should come by the middle of the month, Reichling assured the group.

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